Peter Brown

Peter Brown (born July 11, 1953) is an American singer-songwriter and record producer.

Brown was a popular performer in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

His biggest success was the release of the LP in 1977 called A Fantasy Love Affair which produced the disco hits "Do Ya Wanna Get Funky with Me" and "Dance With Me".

He wrote, with Robert Rans, Madonna's hit "Material Girl".

Brown was born in Blue Island, Illinois, and raised in Palos Heights, Illinois, both suburbs of Chicago, United States.

His mother, Virginia, was artistic and musically talented and gave Peter music lessons at a young age.

Peter's father, Maurice, was an electronic engineer whose electronics helped Peter learn the technical aspects of recording music.

He always brought home the latest technological breakthrough, which in those days included CB and ham radios, the first color television and the first stereo record player.

Maurice also purchased a number of tape recorders, which Peter played with as a child.

One of these machines, a TEAC A-1200 two-track, had a feature which allowed transferring recordings on one track to a second track, while simultaneously allowing recording something new on that second track.

Brown became serious about music in his teens and chose to learn the drums.

His greatest inspirations in music at the time were Santana; Earth, Wind and Fire; and Chicago.

He later became proficient playing timbales, conga drums, and a large number of other percussion instruments.

Later, Brown was one of the pioneer users of the musical synthesizer, and for a time he was spokesman for the ARP Synthesizer company, since he used their products almost exclusively in performances and recordings.

In his youth, Brown had assumed he would become a painter or a graphic artist of some kind.

After High School he enrolled in The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Although it was a prestigious school, professors seemed indifferent, and the facilities were rudimentary at the time.

Then Brown met Cory Wade, who eventually became his first producer.

Wade encouraged Brown to give him some demo tracks for critique.

At this point, Brown could use his four-track recorder and his then-innovative synthesizer.

Brown subsequently changed his career to music, but thought of being a songwriter, studio musician, or producer; however, Wade suggested that Brown become a producer.

Brown assembled a group of musicians to perform his music, inspiring them with stories of his connections with Wade.

Among the original members of the band was Pat Hurley, who sang and played keyboard in the band and who eventually co-write lyrics with Brown.

Tom Dziallo played bass in the band bass and guitar on all of Brown's albums, and Robert Rans became Brown's lead keyboard player and primary lyric writing partner for many years.

Brown's lifelong friend, Robert Vavrik, never joined the band but eventually penned some lyrics with Brown.

They created some disco music, which was popular at the time, and wanted to take the track to TK Records in Hialeah, Florida, for a possible record deal.

Within days of the record having been sent, Henry Stone, the president of TK, wanted to release the song just as it was and offered Wade a deal for the single.

This was followed by an album deal if the single was successful.

Although excited by the offer, Brown did not want his four-track, home made demo released as the actual record.

Henry Stone and everyone at TK Records liked the augmented version, so Brown and Stone made the album deal and settled on a six-month deadline to write new material and record the album.

Late in 1977, TK Records announced that sales of the 12-inch version of "Do Ya Wanna Get Funky With Me" had reached the million dollar mark, making it the first gold 12-inch single in history.

The album went gold as well.

Brown also photographed the album's somewhat controversial cover and revealed, in a 1978 interview in Rolling Stone, that he had created the cover's nude model out of cardboard, sheer fabric and ribbons.

Billboard Magazine's Year End #1 Awards for 1978 named Brown the #1 new male album artist, #3 new album artist and #10 pop male artist, as well as #11 pop male album artist, #16 soul artists and #11 soul albums.

Cash Box Magazine's Year End Awards issue for 1978 named Brown #1 Top Male Single Vocalist, #1 Top New Male Single Vocalist and #2 Top Male Album Vocalist along with #3 Crossover R&B Male.

The 1978 Record World Magazine Disco Awards named Brown Outstanding New Performer, Top New Male Vocalist and Top Male Vocalist.

He was also nominated by NARAS (The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences) in 1978 for a Grammy Award for best R&B Vocal Performance for the song "Dance With Me".

"Dance With Me" also included a guest vocal performance by Betty Wright.

In 1979, Brown's single "Crank It Up" peaked in the Billboard Disco Chart at No. 4.

Brown's first professional performance came on the American Bandstand television show, hosted by Dick Clark.